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NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE


May 21,2010
ROGER GOODELL
Commissioner
The Honorable Christopher J. Christie
Governor
Offce of the Governor, State of New Jersey
P.O. Box 001
Trenton, NJ 08625
Dear Governor Christie,
We in the NFL are asking for your assistance in addressing an important medical
issue affecting young athletes in your state.
The Centers for Disease Control estimates that there may be as many as 3.8
million sports and recreation-related concussions in the United States each year. These
injuries are sustained by both boys and girls in numerous contact sports.
The NFL has taken a much more aggressive approach in recent years in
identifying and treating concussions among our own players. We have implemented an
awareness campaign to make certain that everyone in the league, including players and
coaches, is better equipped to identify concussion symptoms. Our primary rule is: the
medical staffs determine when a player is ready to return, not the coach nor the player
himself.
Given our experience at the professional level, we believe a similar approach is
appropriate when dealing with concussions in all youth sports. That is whv the NFL and
its clubs urge you to support legislation that would better protect your state's young
athletes by mandating a more formal and aggressive approach to treatment of
concussions.
Such legislation has been signed into law in several states. For example,
legislation was passed in Washington State in 2009 named for Zackery Lystedt who was
a star football player on his youth team. He was permitted to return to play in a game
following a concussion and then suffered life-threatening injuries.
280 Park Avenue, New Yorll, New Yorll 10017 Tel (212) 450-2000 Fax (212) 681-7574
Zackery, his family and a broad range of medical, business and community
partners lobbied the Washington state legislature for a law to protect young athletes in all
sports from returning to play too soon. The Lystedt law contains three essential
elements:
1. Athletes, parents and coaches must be educated about the dangers of concussions
each year;
2. If a young athlete is suspected of having a concussion, he/she must be removed
from a game or practice and not be permitted to return to play, and;
3. A licensed health care professional must clear the young athlete to return to play
in the subsequent days or weeks.
We would urge that similar legislation be adopted in your state.
As you consider the importance of this youth sports concussion legislation, we
would be pleased to provide assistance and further share our knowledge of similar
legislation in other states. Please ask your staff to contact Joe Browne, the NFL's chief
executive for governental affairs, at ioe.browne~nfl.com for additional information.
We believe that sports and political leaders can help raise awareness of these
dangerous injuries and better ensure that they are treated in the proper and most effective
way. Young athletes as well as parents, coaches and school offcials in your state wil
thank you for taking a stand on this important issue.
Sincerely,
4J~
ROGER GOODELL
Commissioner

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